Sabina Veronica was my mother's name (born 1920), and she never liked it, giving herself the nickname "Pat" as a teenager and sticking to it all her life (many friends knew her only as "Pat"). Her name was often confused with "Sabrina" and required spelling explanation. When I tell people her name now, though, many seem to think it's very pretty -- maybe it's due for a revival!

My mother originally named me Helga (more common in Germany). But my grandmother (who took care of me my first few years called me Sabine-chen (meaning Little Mouse). It became Sabine then Sabina. I have always loved this name and been grateful that it stuck, rather than Helga.

I had an aunt in Holland who became a Catholic nun and took the name Sister Sabina (which was not her birth name).

Sabine means "woman of the Sabine people", the Italian tribe from which, according to legend, the ancient Romans kidnapped their wives-to-be in order to populate their newly-founded city. It can also be a place name, in honor of the Sabina region in the province of Rieta, Italy. There is a Sabine river in Louisiana and a Sabine crater on the moon.

I have also read that it was derived from Czarina (as in Queen, wife of the Czar in Russia). From there it became Sarina, then Sabrina, then Sabina.

In ancient Egyptian Zah or Sah mean "radiating light". And in ancient Hebrew (the Kabbalah) Binah means "understanding". So, in essence the name means "radiating the light of understanding" or Wisdom.

Sabina, the wise housemaid/temptress of Thornton Wilder's play "The Skin of Our Teeth".
Sabina is the main character in Anais Nin's novel "A Spy in the House of Love."
Sabina was a main character in the movie "Unbearable Lightness of Being".